Oxford / AstraZeneca COVID shot less effectively against South African variant: study

(Reuters) – British pharmacist AstraZeneca AZN.L said on Saturday the vaccine developed in conjunction with Oxford University appears to offer limited protection against mild diseases caused by the South African version of COVID-19, based on early data from a study.

The study from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and the University of Oxford showed that the vaccine significantly reduced its effectiveness compared to the South African version, according to a Financial Times report published earlier that day.

Among the coronavirus variants currently the most worrying for scientists and public health experts are the so-called British, South African and Brazilian variants, which seem to be spreading faster than others.

“In this small phase I / II study, early data demonstrated limited efficacy against mild disease, mainly due to variant B.1.351 in South Africa,” an AstraZeneca spokesman said in response to the FT report.

The newspaper said none of the more than 2,000 participants in the trial were hospitalized or died.

“However, we have not been able to properly establish its effect against severe diseases and hospitalization, given that the subjects were predominantly healthy young adults,” said the AstraZeneca spokesman.

The company said it believes its vaccine could protect against severe disease, given that the antibody-neutralizing activity is equivalent to that of other COVID-19 vaccines that have been shown to protect against severe disease.

The trial, which involved 2,026 people, half of whom formed the placebo group, was not evaluated by colleagues, FT said.

While thousands of individual changes have occurred as the virus moves into new variants, only a small minority is likely to be important or change the virus in an appreciated way, according to the British Medical Journal.

“Oxford University and AstraZeneca have begun adapting the vaccine against this variant and will move rapidly through clinical development so that it will be ready for delivery in the autumn, if needed,” said the AstraZeneca spokesman.

On Friday, Oxford said their vaccine has similar efficacy against the British coronavirus variant as previously circulating variants.